Teough and fence



(No Model!) M. P. FRENCH.

COMBINED HOG THOUGH AND PENGE. No. 261,842 Patented Augfl, 1882.

UNITED STATES PATENT @rrtca,

MARSHALL F. FRENCH, OF KENNARD, NEBRASKA.

COMBINED HOG-TROUGH AND FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 261,842, dated August 1, 1882,

Application filed March 24, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARSHALL F. Fnnnon, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kennard, in the county of Washington and State of Nebraska, haveinven ted certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Hog illrough and Fence; and I do. declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,refere11ce being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to that class of hogtrough provided with a fence above it to keep the hogs from climbing over it, and a pivoted cover so constructed as to prevent the hogs having access to the trough while it is being filled; and the invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter more fully described, and then pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a perspective view of atrough constructed according to my improvement. Figs. 2 and 3 show transverse sections with the cover in different positions.

A represents the trough, from whose end boards, a a, rise the end posts, B, of the fence, forming, in conjunction with the central posts, 0, supports for the top rail, D, and barbed wires E.

F represents the cover, which is pivoted at its ends to the end boards of the trough, and may, if thought essential, be connected by pivots to the central post; but I do not consider it necessary. This cover is strengthened with transverse cleats and thelongitudinal bar G, in which the pivots are formed on which the cover turns, and when closed in front for filling, as shown in Fig. 2, it rests on the cleats on the end boards and front of the trough.

Attached to the back of the cover in any convenient manner is a lever, H, having a slot, h, through whichpasses a pin, I, into either of the holes J, made in the central post, by which means the cover may be held closed in front, as shown in Fig. 2, or fully open, as

shown in full lines in Fig. 3, or at any desired point between the two, as shown in dotted lines in tllesame figure,by which arrangement the opening can be gaged to suit the size of the hogs being fed, and thus they are prevent-. ed from getting their feet inside the trough, whereby there is less waste of food, and each hog only takes up his proper amount of room,

and cannot thus hinder others from getting their share of food.

The barbed wires are found particularly useful in connection with the reversible cover, for a hog would forcehis head between the top edge of the cover and an ordinary rail, and thus use the latter as purchase to force open the cover by pressing the rear edge of the cover downward, so as to break the fastening and allow another hog or hogs to take advantage of the partly-opened cover and raise it still farther; or, if the cover-fastening should prove sufficiently strong, the rail might be forced off and allow the hogs to gain access to opposite I open side of the trough. The use of the barbed wire entirely prevents either of these undesirable results.

When in use I prefer to arrange as many of these troughs as I find necessary for the number of hogs to be fed, so as to form three sides of a hollow square or parallelogram, with their fronts outward, the fourth side of which is occupied by my apparatus for cooking the food, thus leaving the space within the square entirely shutofl from the animals. The covers are then fastened down by the pins I, as shown in Fig. 2, and'the food distributed through all the troughs, after which the covers are raised, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, or as much higher as may be necessary, according to the size of the hogs to be fed, but taking care that they shall not be so high as to allow the hogs to get their feet inside the trough. By this arrangement any number of hogs may be conveniently fed without trouble or danger to the feeder or the hogs, whereas by the ordinary style of feeding them in open troughs it is no uncommon thing, where there are large numbers of hogs to be fed, for two or three to be so injured in a single day in fighting for precedence as to require killing, if not already fatally injured.

The inclined top (whether open or closed) acts as part of the fence, and thus less wires or rails are required than would be necessary if the top were flat.

5 I do not wish to limit myself to the exact construction here shown, as it may be varied in many different ways. Forinstance,instead of the slotted lever and pin shown in the drawings some different form of fastening may be used, such as-a lever having a spring-pawl taking in a curved rack-bar such as-is common on many. agricultural implements; or, instead of the barbed wires, ordinary rails may be used without departing from the spirit of my invention as far as it relates to the troughcover and fastening-lever, although I prefer the barbed wires.

I have also shown my improvement in a portable form; but, if preferred, it may be made a fixture or built in the side of a pen; or the trough may be made separate from the fence entirely and placed within an aperture left for it in the side ofa pen or fence, in which case some fastening device other than the cen tral part of the fence might be substituted.

I am aware that a hog-trough has heretofore been provided with a hinged cover held open by a rope, and I not claim such invention, my device being advantageous over the same in providing meansfor rigidly fastening the cover in any desired position for the purpose of preventing large hogs from raising the covers of troughs intended for smaller animals.

What I claim as new is- 1. The combination, with a hog-trough and the pivoted cover B thereof, of afastening device, substantially as described, by which the said cover can be firmly and rigidly locked open or closed or at any intermediate point, whereby large hogs may be prevented from feeding in troughs intended for smaller animals, as set forth.

2. The combination, with a hog-trough and the pivoted cover F, of the support 0, the lever H, fastened rigidly to and turning with the cover, and a fastening-pin passing through both the lever and the support, substantially as described. v

3. The combination, with the pivoted cover of a trough, of the slotted lever H, fence-post 0, having a series of holes therein, and the pin I, all constructed and arranged substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination, with a hog-trough, ofa

centrally-pivoted cover adapted to open or close the same from either side, a locking device, substantially as described, for holding the same in the desired position, the posts B, and the barbed wires E, the lower of said barbed wires being sufficiently close to the cover to prevent a hog from reaching and pushing down the outer edge of the cover in attempting to get to the open side of the trough, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MARSHALL F. FRENCH.

Witnesses:

T. J. W. ROBERTSON, I W. T. JOHNSON. 

